Conditions 'Bleak' for Rural Children, C.D.F. Finds

WASHINGTON--Children who live in rural areas are poorer, less
healthy, less well educated, and often have less access than other
children to government assistance, according to a Children's Defense
Fund study.

Debunking the stereotype that the nation's poorest, most unhealthy,
and most undereducated children are members of minority groups living
in urban areas, the report says 14.9 million, or one-fourth of,
American children living in rural areas face conditions "just as bleak
and in some respects even bleaker than their metropolitan
counterparts."

While rural children are more likely to be white and slightly more
likely to live in two-parent homes, the report notes, only one-twelfth
still live on farms, while the rest live in settings ranging from
trailer camps to backwoods communities with a mix of service and
manufacturing economies.

Because rural unemployment is higher, incomes tend to be lower, and
government assistance is "more restrictive,'' rural children are more
likely to be poor than those in other areas, the report concludes.

According to the report, rural earnings are three-fourths of
metropolitan levels; welfare payments under the Aid to Families with
Dependent Children program are about half the metropolitan level; and
22.9 percent of rural children were poor in 1990, 2 percentage points
higher than the total share of American children in poverty.

The report also notes that rural children are less likely to have
health-insurance coverage than those from other regions and that rural
areas have proportionately fewer doctors. As a result, it says, rural
babies are more likely to be born to women who received late or no
prenatal care, and 42 percent of the children in rural areas have not
been to a doctor in at least a year.

The report also notes that rural households are less likely than
urban ones to get federal housing assistance, contributing to
overcrowding and homelessness, and that teenage birthrates tend to be
higher in rural areas, accounting for 15 percent of all births,
compared with 12 percent in urban areas.

Child care is also in shorter supply, it says, and rural schools are
generally poorer and offer a narrower range of programs.

The report also maintains that rural teachers have less experience,
training, and higher turnover rates than their urban counterparts and
that student dropout rates--while on the decline-still lag behind
metropolitan rates.

Call for Tax Credit

On the positive side, the report points out, rural babies are less
likely than others to be born at low birthweights, and rural
communities have lower homicide rates and are more likely to be deemed
good places to live by residents.

Besides reiterating its call for a refundable children's tax credit
that would aid all families with children, the C.D.F. calls in the
report for lifting "unreasonable restrictions'' on such "safety-net
programs" as Medicaid, A.F.D.C., and food stamps. It also calls for
policies that would allow poor families to be reimbursed for travel to
medical and social-services offices and to apply for benefits by
mail.

The report also urges full funding for child-care and preschool
programs and for community health centers, migrant health centers, food
programs for women and infants, and the national health-service
corps.

In addition, it recommends greater investment in rural schools,
loan-forgiveness programs for teachers and health personnel who serve
in rural areas, home-visitor and parent-education programs for isolated
pregnant women and families, and more training and support for
family-day-care providers.

Information on the report, "Falling by the Wayside: Children in
Rural America," is available from the Children's Defense Fund, 122 C
St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001.

Vol. 11, Issue 16, Page 7

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